Back to Mali -- 26 January

All right! After finishing up the process with the henna tattoos and eating breakfast (side note -- since the ladies who tattooed us all have other responsibilities, the tattooing started in the evening after dark -- when their chores were done. The returned in the morning about 6:30am -- before the major chores started). We headed back to finish up the fence and plant the trees. We were planting fruit trees -- papaya, mango, grenadine, baobob, lemon, and tamarind. We each were paired up with a villager for planting. I was paired with one of the older men who'd taken a liking to me as a "daughter".

Meanwhile, the "gate" was delivered to the site -- sheet metal that was a bit too narrow for the hole left for it, so the masons set about making it right. Also, Tandana had gifted the workers coffee (among other items) and a group made it up for all -- strong and hot, just like I take it! And we got to try some of the baobab fruit -- similar to popcorn in texture -- airy with a crunchy/fibrous core. Not bad.
Our lunch break was fried plantains, macaroni and chicken which was great after a morning of work. Then they brought us some toe. Not part of your feet, but the main staple for Malian's diets. Toe is ground millet that is cooked into a really thick porridge/paste. I LOVE grains -- rice, barley, wheat, oats -- so I assumed I'd like this as well. I took a big bite and thought, "now this is interesting.....". The aftertaste was unpleasant, but, undeterred, I decided to try again. This time, the initial flavor was also horrible. YUCK!!!!! I'm quite thankful that we were served our own meals (note -- Tandana supplied our group with our own cook who prepared more "western" foods for us -- and everything we ate was quite tasty, toe aside).

A quick bit of laundry and then we headed to the village where we got to see some of the weavers. They weave about 4-5inch wide strips that are sewn together to form cloth for use in clothing etc. They use their feet as well as their hands in plying their trade. The aspect that was most interesting to me is that they weave in reverse to what we do -- rather than have the new cloth be away from you, the cloth comes toward them.

Our last event of the afternoon was the performance of our "skit" where we showed the villagers all that we'd done and enjoyed during our stay. Even though I HATE these sorts of things, it was fun. And my dad made a GREAT goat......

And here's a "panorama" of the finished garden.......WOW! Look at all that work! Amazing what a community can do when they spend the time together to get something done!